Hiking GoGunsan Island

With only 2 months left on the ROK (can you believe it!), I have been trying to explore the city as much as possible.  I don't want to miss out on ANYTHING!  We recently had a few days off from work due to Korean Holidays, so we took advantage of the sunny weather and went to explore the area west of base, known as the Saemangeum Seawall.  It is the worlds largest man made levee.  If you drive along the seawall, there are tons of places to walk around, hike, and take in the views.  We chose to park and explore GoGunsan Island, which is only one of the islands connected by the wall.

A random parking lot of concrete structures makes for good photo ops

At the base of the hiking trail, there were several small shops serving snacks and drinks.  I recommend you bring your own treats if you are looking for granola bar or bag of pretzels....all you will find here is dried seafood.  But if your into that kind of thing, you can find sting ray, squid, octopus, and little fishies galore!

We also came across a vendor selling the largest mussels I've ever seen!  I had no idea mussels could get this large.  They looked like they were out of the prehistoric era.

After taking in the food sites (and smells), we headed up the mountain for a hike.  The weather was glorious!

At the bottom of the trail there was a "Stamp Box", so we decided to stamp our hands like little kids (because thats what we are!).  It turned out to be a poor decision...once we started hiking the ink ran, and I ended up transferring the stamp to my forehead as I wiped the sweat away.  Oops!

 The trail was fairly short, but very steep

 The view, about half way up

 The "Trail"...you wouldn't want to slip on this stuff, it was pretty sharp!

 Success! Sarah and I Pushing it up at the top of the mountain!

We made it up and back in about 35 + 10 minutes.  Overall it was a successful morning!  

DBAP PITFU Rage! 

5 Reasons to Love Korean Street Food

One of the things that Korea does well is street food.  If you are an adventurous person when it comes to eating, there is no shortage of interesting foods to try.  The term "Street Meat" was not particularly appealing to me when I arrived, but now its something to crave!  here are 5 reasons to love Korean street food.

# 5

If you enjoy hitting up flea markets and farmers markets on sunny weekend afternoons, Namdaemun Market is a great place to visit.  It is a traditional Korean market located in the center of Seoul.  It is a great place to shop for traditional Korean souvenirs, but its also a great place to hang out on a sunny day, drink a beer, and enjoy some interesting food!  If you are adventurous when it comes to food, you will enjoy the food stands located throughout the market.  There are all kinds of meats including pork, beef, chicken, squid, and clams.  Pick your meat, and they will cook it up for you right there and serve it with delicious noodles!   

# 4

After stuffing yourself with delicious street meat, you will probably want something sweet.  These fresh donuts won't disappoint!  Freshly fried, and covered in granulated sugar...mmmmm

# 3
Hot dogs! In all shapes and forms. Pigs in a blanket, Korean style!  They are delicious, and they make for a good snack or lunch on the go while exploring markets and city streets. If you have ever craved a dirty water dog in NYC, you will surely be craving these.

# 2
One of my favorite snacks is this traditional Korean food, Kimbap. This is a favorite snack/lunch item because it is convenient to grab on the go and it is super portable.  "Kimbap" literally translates to seaweed rice.  At first glance these rolls may look like sushi, but the filling is anything but. The filling may vary, but I am familiar with what's pictured below:  ham, crab, egg, carrots, spinach, and yellow pickled radish.  If someone had described this to me before I tasted it, it would not sound appealing.  Surprisingly, the flavore is unique and craveable!

# 1
Number one on my list of must try Korean street food is the broad category of twigim and mandu.  Twigim is a broad term that refers to anything deep fried in a type of tempura batter.  You can find anything from whole shrimp, squid, and hard boiled eggs to pumpkin and vegetables ready to be fried up and served hot.  Mandu is a Korean dumpling that could be filled with pork, seafood, or vegetables.  Stands that sell this food can be found throughout the streets in Seoul and Songtan, making for a quick and cheap stop late at night after a night on the town.

Every teacher probably says this...

Mark wanted to title this post Unexpected Joy, but I though that might start some talk about that thing..... It starts with a B and ends with an aby. Ha! So I scrapped his title and made my best attempt at being creative. I simply wanted to share my good mood. Today at school, I received the best birthday gift! I'm sure every teacher says this, but I really have the best, most thoughtful students! My classes surprised me with Happy birthday wishes, complete with balloons, presents, balloon animals (who doesn't love those!), hand written cards and the happy birthday song of course.  Today was a good reminder that when it comes to celebrating milestones, the old saying is true: it's not how much you spend, but it's the thought that counts. Here are some simple things you can do to bring a smile to someone's face. Why make a simple gesture? Because it will make someone's day and requires almost no effort.  When you read these, you will laugh at how easy they are, but it's amazing how often we forget to follow through on the little things.
1.  Call a grandparent just to say hello
2.  Put a note in your spouse or children's lunch to remind them they are special
3.  Call an old friend and catch up!
4.  Bring home flowers for no reason at all :)
5.  Mail a card for a birthday (mom, dad, siblings, whoever! Everyone loves to get snail mail)
There are lots of other ideas out there.  If you have a good suggestion, post it to the comments!

Thank you to the wonderful staff and students at HanMi for making it a memorable birthday. I wanted to share the smiles! Happy Tuesday!

The PLACE, Seoul Tower: Review

Happy Birthday to us!  We decided to take a trip up to Seoul this weekend in celebration of our awesomeness.  Since we had not yet seen the Seoul tower, it seemed like the perfect place to celebrate.  The Seoul Tower is located in the center of the city, atop a large hill making it the highest point in the city.  Be advised, taxis can not drive to the tower so there are only two ways up: walking or taking the Gondola.  Regardless of which method you use, there will be some walking involved so I would recommend comfortable shows (no stilettos!).  If you take the gondola, a round trip ticket will cost 8,000 won, or a one way ticket will cost 6,000 won.

We decided to walk one way, and take the gondola one way.  The walk up to the tower is uphill, and it takes about 30 minutes, but the park and the views make for a scenic and enjoyable walk.  Below are a few pictures from our trek up to the tower.

Once you arrive at the tower, there are three restaurants to choose from. We opted to eat at The Place (Italian food), which is only on the second floor of the tower (not the top), but the views were still great!  I would recommend showing up a bit early in order to spend time taking pictures and looking at the sites near the base of the tower.  If you want, you can bring a lock to mark your visit, and attach it to the fence around the tower along with the 1000's that are already there!

After a few minutes of photo taking, we had a great meal at The Place.  On to the restaurant review! The views were great from every table in the restaurant.   The atmosphere was nice - a mix of couples and groups of friends.  I did not see many children, but I would say this place is child friendly. A long with pasta, and steaks, they also serve pizza!  There were four options of set menus or you can order a la carte.  We ordered one of the set menus, and we were not disappointed.  The food came out quickly, the portion sizes were just right, and it was delicious.  I would like to note that they only served beer and wine (no cocktails) which was fine by us, but may be a consideration when you choose which restaurant to eat at.  

The view from our table :)

 Course 1: a bite sized caprese salad

 Course 2:  Home made bread served fresh and warm

 Course 3:  Pan seared scallops over sauteed zucchini and squash

 Course 4:  Choice of Pasta.  I had the spaghetti with meatballs and Mark had the Pesto Pasta.  Both were good.

 Course 5:  Chef soup of the week.  Squash soup for us, and it was great!

Course 6:  Choice of main courses included Steak, Lobster, and Fish - Note there were no chicken options, if you are a picky eater.  The Steak was a little over cooked (ordered MR, but came more on the side of M or MW), but still delicious.  The Lobster tail was well done. 

 Course 7: Coffee and Chef's Choice dessert.  We had green tea ice cream, with a toasted nut crumble, and a lemon macaroon.  A delicious and refreshing way to end the meal.

We would recommend this restaurant to friends.  The food was good, it was priced fairly, and the views were great.  However, it does take some effort to get to and from, so make sure you have a few hours to spend if you want it to be worth your while!  After our meal, we took the trolly back down the mountain and there were taxis easily accessible to catch a ride to our next destination.  I would recommend going to the tower in the evening, so you have a chance to see the sites in the daylight as well as at night, all lit up!

 The tower and gondola lit up, from the bottom of the mountain. Pretty!

If you are only in Seoul for a short trip, the tower is a great site to see.  If you are going to take the time to get up there, you may as well enjoy the views over a beer and some good food! 

- The Vahle's

Lunch Date!

The weather is warming up, and the farms are beginning to turn a rich shade of green.  Pretty soon the Cherry Blossom trees will be blossoming around Eunpa Lake! Spring is in the air in Gunsan. We took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend and got a delicious lunch full of colorful side dishes and steamed Crab! Yum! It was a delicious afternoon, washed down well with some cold beers :)

It was a great start to the weekend! Although I admit I am not the biggest fan of kimchi, Korean food has proven to be both delicious and exotic.  Other than that, We enjoyed some down time this weekend with not much to report.... The calm before the storm.  It's off to Thailand on Thursday! You can be sure that we will have tons of pictures to share upon our return! Peace out pea sprouts!